Is this the price of beauty! Fairest, thou, Of all the cities of the sunrise sea, Yet thrice art stricken. First, war harried thee; Then the dread circling tempest drove its plough Right through thy palaces; and now, O now! A sound of terror, and thy children flee Into the night and death. O Deity! Thou God of war and whirlwind, whose dark brow, Frowning, makes tremble sea and solid land! These are thy creatures who to heaven cry While hell roars 'neath them, and its portals ope; To thee they call, -- to thee who bidst them die, Who hast forgotten to withhold thy hand, -- For thou, Destroyer, art man's only Hope! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TERMINUS (1) by RALPH WALDO EMERSON A BALLAD OF THE BOSTON TEA-PARTY [DECEMBER 16, 1773] by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES FOR DECORATION DAY: 1861-1865 by RUPERT HUGHES TO HESTER [SAVORY] by CHARLES LAMB VARIUM ET MUTABILE by THOMAS WYATT THE CHILD IN A GARDEN by MARIA ABDY AUNT FANNY; A LEGEND OF A SHIRT by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM |